Industry and development organizations have a key role in modernizing and indigenising Indian army's Tactical Communications System (TCS) and Network Centric Operations, maintained defence minister A.K. Antony during the inaugural session of DEFCOM 2012.

AK ANTONY said that the opportunity lies in blending India’s innate software development skills with indigenous manufacturing capability so that the nation’s armed forces are able to secure the national borders.

DEFCOM 2012 was jointly organized by the Integrated HQ of Ministry of Defence (Army), Corp of Defence Signals and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi.

He added that the indigenisation of information & communication technology, electronics and cyber (ICTEC) systems for defence forces has a long way to go and that the challenges should be acted upon sooner than later. In this light, he noted that DEFCOM 2012 was most appropriate and timely, especially in times when the tactical communications environment is becoming increasingly dynamic.

The defence minister underscored that the decision makers in the armed forces should be able to receive reliable and actionable information under all circumstances, which a robust TCS can deliver.

Gen. Bikram Singh, General, Chief of Army Staff, said in his address that the guiding objective is to achieve self-reliance and technical sovereignty in TCS through indigenisation of designs and standards. He said that while there are challenges in realizing the objective, the army, industry and academia should indeed look at the emerging opportunities in the ICTEC domain.